Forgive and Forget
by LaBelleAmante
Summary: Lucius was there at the time when Hermione was at her lowest point, when she went through more pain than she ever went through again and he did nothing. They meet again. Will Hermione be able to forgive and forget? Rated M, please don't read if underage.


**A/N This is a story I wrote a loooong time ago, and I never really wrote it to be read by anybody! But I was flicking through my work and decided that I would like to know about people's reaction to it, whether it was really bad or fantastic! (I admit the first one is the more likely possibility!) It will only be two chapters long unless anyone really wants me to carry on (unlikely, I know!) So enjoy!**

Hermione sighed as Ginny apparated in front of her, after inviting her to a party and not giving her a chance to say no before she disappeared with a hasty "You will need a nice dress!"

Well, she hadn't been out at all in the past two months, ever since her painful break up with Ron. She had been quite happy with their relationship, but apparently the beautiful, air-headed blonde was more interesting than she had ever been. Well, it appeared that way when she walked into her house and found her bent over her sofa with Ron pumping enthusiastically into her from behind.

Their relationship was over before he even had a chance to try and think up an excuse. She had banned him from coming to her house ever again. She never understood why he did it in her house, and not his own, where she would have been much less likely to find out about it, but she eventually decided that this was because he was to cowardly to break up with her, and found it easier to get himself dumped.

Yes, she thought, after mulling over the incident, she could do with getting out and seeing people again. It was being organised by Ginny's long time boyfriend, Draco Malfoy. At first she had found it hard to accept that her best friend was going out with a former death eater, but since his mother left and he lived with only his father, he had become much more pleasant person, if still a little cold and haughty.

The party was going to be held in the second Malfoy home, not the one in which she had been tortured in during the war. No, if it was being held there then she would point blank have refused to go, and Ginny would not even have asked her to come, knowing how much she hated that place. The new manor, built after the war had finished, was just as large as the other one, but more open and spacious and a much nicer place to live. She had only been there once, when it was used for a ministry event, and she hadn't seen much of it, but what she had seen she had liked.

Well, she would give Ginny a pleasant surprise and send her an owl saying that she would come, and would they like to go shopping for dresses together?

In less than an hour she had a reply, saying that she would pick Hermione up from work tomorrow at 3 and they would visit Diagon Ally together. A small smile formed on her lips as she read the groveling thanks that surrounded this message, and she sent another owl to her secretary at the ministry to tell her to cancel any appointments after 3 o'clock the next day.

Yes, it would definitely do her good to go to a party.

She sighed over the huge pile of papers that she still had to go through, and glancing at the clock realised that she had less than an hour before Ginny would appear. She loved her job as the head of the Muggle Relations Department in the ministry, but the amount of paperwork was horrendous.

She slowly began to read through the next sheet and began crossing out and correcting the parts that Luna had got wrong. Luna was brilliant with ideas to help muggle relations but she did make lots of stupid errors, which Hermione seemed to spend half her time correcting.

The second the hands on the clock reached 3 o'clock Ginny burst through the door and grabbed Hermione's hand.

"Come on! We must hurry if we are going to have time to get the perfect dress!"

"Ginny, the shops are all open for another 3 hours! We don't need to rush so much!" Hermione said, laughing at her friend.

"Exactly! We have only got 3 hours before they close! I would have asked you to come out earlier, but I know how busy you are, and I thought if I asked that you would have said no to the whole shopping trip!" Ginny said as she dragged Hermione through the building and once they were out of the main door apparated them straight into Diagon Ally.

The next three hours were spent trying on more dresses than Hermione thought existed, with Ginny becoming more and more frustrated as the day wore on and Hermione still hadn't found a dress that looked special on her. Ginny had found a gorgeous dark green full length dress that contrasted beautifully with her thick red hair in one of the first shops they went to, but nothing felt quite right for Hermione.

"There must be something! I don't know where else there is to look, and everything will be closing for the night soon!" sighed Ginny.

"What about that shop down there?" asked Hermione, pointing to one on the corner.

"No, we went to that one earlier. Remember? It had that hideous blue dress that you tried on." replied Ginny.

"Well what about that little one down there? I'm sure we haven't been to that one."

"I think you are right! Quick, before it shuts" said Ginny, excitement lighting up in her voice once again.

They pushed open the door and peered into the slightly gloomy interior of the shop.

"Hello?" they called out, and a small, pretty young woman, hurried out from behind a row of dresses.

"Hello, my name is Fenella. How can I help you?" she said in a soft, chiming voice.

"My friend here needs an evening gown. We have looked everywhere, but we can't seem to find anything that looks nice on her." said Ginny.

"Hmmm," said Fenella as she walked around Hermione, motioning with her wand at a tape measure which began to take measurements of her.

"You know, I think I have just the thing. It hasn't looked great on anyone who has tried it on yet, but I think that you have the perfect figure and colouring for it. Come with me. You can try it on back here." she said, trotting off towards the back of the shop. With a nervous smile at Ginny, Hermione followed on.

The dress that the woman gave her didn't look like much. It was made of some sort of silky material and was in a deep, wine-red colour. She took it from the lady and went into the curtained dressing room. She carefully slipped it over her head and turned to face the mirror.

What she saw made her gasp with surprise. The dress had thin shoulder straps and a simple scoop neck, but this managed to show off her breasts beautifully. Carrying on down, the dress clung to her body, accentuating her thin waist and curvy hips perfectly. The dress flared out slightly just above the knees and flowed in smooth pleats around her ankles. It was the most gorgeous dress she had ever seen.

After changing out of it, she went outside, telling Ginny that she wanted to surprise her on the night with the dress. She paid for it, feeling a little guilty when she realised how much it cost, but knew that it was definitely worth it.

Thursday and Friday passed in a blur of meetings, paperwork and general chaos, as was usual in her department, but she enjoyed it. She couldn't help feeling a little excited about Saturday, the day of the party.

She had quizzed Ginny on who would be there, and she said everybody. It was a joint event, organised by Lucius and Draco to celebrate some charity that they had just set up to help death eaters back into society after their release from Azkaban. After Lucius had been released from Azkaban, he had at first found it difficult to become accepted in society again, but after a lot of charity work and moving out of his old manor, he had finally regained his prominent social standing.

Harry and Ron had been invited, but they were both away on a secret Auror mission, so thankfully she wouldn't have to see her ex. She would have liked Harry to be there though.

Saturday finally rolled round, and with an early morning wake up for Hermione as Ginny appeared on her bed, intent on making them both beautiful for the party. They spent a wonderful day pampering themselves.

First, they each had a long, relaxing bath and then they returned to Diagon Ally to have manicures and pedicures. Whilst their nails were being done, Hermione managed to catch up on all the gossip she had missed in her months of solitude. Who was with who and who was doing this now and countless other bits of pointless gossip that she loved to hear.

Normally she would spend Saturday morning doing extra work, but she had agreed to leave the pile of work she still had to do until tomorrow.

After they had their nails done they headed over to the hairdressers, where a wonderful woman managed to actually tame Hermione's hair into a set of smooth ringlets. Most of these were pulled up into a high, loose bun but some were left to frame her face.

By this time it was late afternoon, so they headed back to the beauty parlor to get their makeup done. Hermione went for subtle makeup, but even she had to admit it was a huge improvement on her normally bare face. Then the girls each headed to their own homes to get dressed, agreeing to meet at the party.

An hour later Hermione was ready, the beautiful dress looking like it had been made for her and her wand out ready to apparate to the party. She was feeling slightly nervous, but tried her best to ignore this and in a flash she was gone.

Hermione appeared outside the towering gates that lead to Malfoy Manor, and, before she stopped to think about it, pushed them open and began walking up the path towards the doorway. As she walked, she became more and more nervous. What if none of her friends turned up? What would people say at her appearance after she had spent so much time in solitude? Would Lucius make any comment as to what had happened during the war? Would Draco still hate her?

All of these thoughts ran through her mind, and she became more and more scared and she had just decided that she would rather not go to a party and was about to head straight back home she heard Ginny's voice behind her.

"Hermione! Turn around, I want to see your dres…" her mouth fell open in shock when Hermione turned to face her.

"You look…you look, wow! You look stunning!" she managed to say.

"So do you," replied Hermione.

"Come on then, let's go!" said Ginny, linking arms with her best friend and marching them up to the door.

As soon as they reached the door it swung open to reveal a large hall already filled with people.

"Hello, welcome to Malfoy Manor, the second." said a cool, deep voice beside them. The girls turned around and came face to face with the man of the house, Lucius Malfoy.

Hermione's first reaction was fear, but this only lasted for a second and was soon overtaken by wonder. He looked gorgeous, with his long platinum hair tied in a discreet ponytail and long, well cut black robes that showed off his faultless physique magnificently. She turned to look at Draco, who was standing beside his father, hoping that Lucius hadn't caught her staring at his handsome face. Draco gave her a tight lipped smile, but his face broke into a true, happy smile when he looked at Ginny, who let go of Hermione's hand and linked arms with him instead.

The two of them wandered off into the quieter area at the back of the hall, leaving Hermione alone with Lucius.

"Miss Granger, I am so glad that you could come tonight. There are drinks over there if you want, and I am sure you will find some of your friends here. Enjoy." he said without a single emotion in his voice or in his eyes.

"Thank you." was all she managed to say before turning away from him and heading in the direction of the drinks table. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw him still looking at her, and she shivered slightly under his piercing gaze.

Suddenly her mind was filled with memories of the pain, the terrible, haunting pain of her torture during the war. Memories of how he had turned his cold, emotionless gaze upon her as she writhed on the floor. Memories of how he did nothing to stop Bellatrix. The memories became stronger and she could feel the pain coursing through her.

She began to walk away, soon beginning to run. She thought that she wouldn't have to think of these things at the different house, but the memories still plagued her. She ran on in terror, black dots forming in her vision as she slowed, exhausted and not knowing where she was. She turned around and found herself at the top of a flight of stone steps. Turning back she heard the quick footsteps of someone following her.

The panic reached a whole new level, expanding inside her, as she waited to see who was following her, unable to run away, unable to even move.

Lucius rounded the bend in the corridor and at the sight of him Hermione lost her loose hold on consciousness and felt herself falling, falling towards the steep stone stairs and then black nothingness.

She was swaying, moving, rising, her brain refusing to acknowledge the pain that her body must be under from the fall down those stairs. She couldn't feel anything. No, she could feel something, the slight warmth under some smooth material, fabric, a faint heartbeat.

"Oh!" she gasped and struggled to turn her head and see who was carrying her. _Not him! _She thought desperately, as she saw the long blond hair and cool grey eyes staring fixedly ahead, not even glancing at her, which made her both grateful and disappointed at the same time.

They were travelling along a corridor made of some sort of blue stone that glistened in the light that came through a window. She tried to work out how he had got to her so fast, he had been at the door, waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive and she had been at the other end of the hall, running, panting, and then the blackness. Why had she been running? The memories! Oh, the pain, the hurt, the torture. She began to struggle in his arms, not wanting to be near him.

"Will you be alright to stand now Miss Granger?" he asked no hint of warmth or emotion in his colourless voice as he gripped her arms to stop her struggling.

"Y...y...yes," she managed to stutter out, hating herself for saying it. She wanted to stay in his arms forever. Wait, this was a Malfoy! She did not, under any circumstances, want to be near a Malfoy unless absolutely necessary.

He let go of her legs unceremoniously, barely touching her shoulders for support, and after a few shaky seconds he removed that as well. She didn't fall or stumble, for which she was proud of herself. She refused to let the niggling thought that if she did fall, she would end up in his arms again, come to the surface.

"Thank you," she said, putting as much feeling as she could into her voice, hoping to get some emotion from him.

"You are welcome," he said, and for a moment she thought he was going to smile at her, but it was only the traditional Malfoy sneer. "I advise that if you feel faint again, you move away from the stone staircases. As much as you would like the attention from it I am sure, it would be rather tiresome to have to clear up after you. I must go and join my guest again." and with that he swept away in the direction of the faint voices she could hear along the corridor.

She leaned back against the wall and slid to the floor, confusion emerging from the ragged thoughts and feelings running through her. Why did she feel disappointed when he left? It didn't make any sense to her logical mind. After a few minutes of pointless repetitive thoughts she slowly stood up and after brushing down her dress and checking her hair she followed in the direction he had gone, soon arriving back amongst the guests.

Glancing around, she saw Harry, to her great surprise. He saw her at the same time and they both hurried towards each other and embraced when they met.

"I thought you were on some mission or something! That is what Ginny said!" she exclaimed.

"It got cancelled, I can't tell you why. So I thought I might as well accept my invite and come along. I figure I can't hold a grudge against Malfoy for the rest of my life. And the food is pretty good too!" he said.

"Cancelled? Does that mean that…" she stopped in the middle of her sentence. Over Harry's shoulder she had just seen a familiar red head. It wasn't Ginny. It was _him,_ Ron, that complete and utter bastard. She didn't think about what she was doing. She just walked straight up behind him, tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned around, slapped him as hard as she could across the face.

The sound of it echoed around the room, which suddenly became silent. Glaring into his eyes, she felt hot tears falling down her cheeks. She remained like that for what felt like hours before turning away from him and running towards the door. Pushing the solid door open took a fair bit of effort, but she managed, and once she was free of the hateful place she really sprinted. She knew she couldn't apparate in the grounds, so she carried on running until she reached the gate. Here, try as she might, she could not get them to open. She tried every unlocking spell she could think of, but none of them worked.

The tears came faster and she heard herself begin to sob. She crumpled at the gates. It was too much. The Malfoys, the memories, Ron, the fainting, her confused feeling about Lucius. She had enough and she just wanted to go home.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and an arm round her waist, pulling her up, helping her stand. Turning round, she saw Harry's concerned face.

"Hermione? Are you alright?

"I just want to go home! The gates won't open though," she sobbed, tears still streaming down her face.

"I'll get Lucius to come and open it for you. I'll take you home if you like." he said, concern sounding clear in his voice.

"Yes please, get Lucius. But I will be fine going home alone. Thank you." she said, smiling gratefully through her tears.

"You sure?" Harry asked as her turned back towards the house. She just nodded in response and turned back to face the gates.

She stood there staring, not thinking, just a blank stare. She didn't want to think, she wanted to go home, to sleep and to forget everything. She heard footsteps, slow and deliberate, coming towards her. She knew who it was. A wand appeared by her shoulder and she heard his voice muttering a spell as the gates swung open.

"I am sorry, Miss Granger. Allow me to escort you home." he said, his deep voice still emotionless. She was too tired to refuse, and just nodded. She felt him take her arm and then the all too familiar feeling of being apparated away.

Hermione swayed as she appeared outside her door and would probably have fallen over if it wasn't for the strong arm supporting her.

"Thank you" she mumbled through the tears that were still pouring down her cheeks. She stepped away from him and opened her door.

"Are you sure you will be ok now?" Lucius asked, the tiniest hint of concern lacing his cool voice.

She nodded and, not knowing what possessed her, reached up on tiptoes and gently pressed her lips to his. The feeling that shot through her when their lips met was incredible, like an electric shock but a thousand times more powerful and enjoyable. She backed away, blushing furiously, not understanding what had just happened, but before she could apologise she felt his lips on hers again.

This time her was more insistent, moving his lips against hers, not roughly, but just enough to show her how much he wanted this. She felt his tongue flick out across her bottom lip, begging for entrance and that was what shocked her into the realisation of what she was doing.

She broke away with a gasp ad turned away from him through her door, slamming it in his surprised face. What had she just done? Kissed Lucius Malfoy? She stood slumped against the door, unmoving for ages, before she finally pulled herself together. She would just forget tonight, forget Ron, forget the party, forget the memories of that time in the war and most of all, forget about what had happened between her and Lucius.

When she made this decision, a small part of her tried to remind her how good it had felt kissing him, how much she wanted it to happen again, but she ignored this part and headed towards the stairs, planning on having a nice long bath before going to bed. Her legs ached as she started to climb the stairs, and she realised just how tired she really was. The events of the evening had completely drained her, both physically and emotionally.

She undid the fasteners on the back of the dress and allowed it to pool around her feet partway up the stairs. She felt disappointed. She had spent so much time getting ready, and she had thought that she looked alright, better than normal anyway, but the evening had been a disaster and Ginny was the only one who complimented her.

She walked into the bathroom and turned on the taps for her bath. She could have used magic and had the bath ready instantly, but just for tonight she wanted to forget about everything and everyone that had anything to do with magic. She just wanted to be a normal human being.

She took off her underwear and just left it in the hallway. She was normally a very tidy person and would never leave her dress on the stairs and her underwear in the hallway, but tonight was different.

She slid softly into the warm bubbly bath, clearing her mind of all the thoughts buzzing around and slowly felt each of her muscles relax. None of it matters, she told herself. Why should she care? And it was working. She didn't feel happy, but she didn't feel sad or angry. She just felt content. Tomorrow she would send an owl to the Malfoys, apologising for what happened last night and she would go back to work on Monday, fresh and ready to tackle the undoubtedly huge pile of papers she would find on her desk. Yes, life felt fine.

A couple of hours later she was sitting in the kitchen wrapped up in a huge fluffy dressing gown sipping hot chocolate. She had been like this for ten minutes, not really paying attention to anything. She jumped with surprise when she heard her doorbell go, nearly spilling her hot chocolate over herself, but managed to keep the cup upright. She placed it on the table and walked over to the door, sliding the bolt back and pulling the door open.

Harry stood there, concern showing on his face.

"Hermione! Are you ok? I thought you said that you didn't want escorting home? Did Lucius do anything?" he said in a rush.

"No, Harry, I am fine and Lucius didn't try anything. I just got tired and emotional and I think I need some quiet time to myself. I will be fine. Thank you for coming round" she smiled at him then closed the door on his shocked face.

Sighing, she decided it was time for bed. She slowly walked up the stairs, picking up the dress on the way and her underwear and putting them back in her wardrobe.

She fell asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow and she had a long and dreamless sleep. She didn't wake up until midday, and spent the remaining time in her pajamas doing nothing.

She went to bed early on Sunday night, and again she fell asleep instantly, waking to the sound of her alarm.

"Really Ginny, I am fine. Nothing to worry about. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get on with my work. You can escort yourself out, can't you?" Hermione said, glancing pointedly at the door.

"Well, if you are sure." said Ginny uncertainly as she headed through the door. Hermione sighed with relief when the door shut and took the first sheet off the top of the pile on her desk and began to read through it.

Three hours later she had made good progress and decided it was time to have her lunch break. She got up and slipped on her coat and headed out into the busy streets. She stopped and chatted to a few people she knew on the way, but arrived at the muggle sandwich bar without incident. She ordered a cheese and tomato sandwich, her favorite, and waited for it to arrive. She sat staring out of the window, people watching, completely absorbed by what she was doing so she didn't notice the man who sat down on the chair opposite her.

She nearly fell out of her chair with shock when she turned away from the window and saw him sitting there.

"Mr. Malfoy!" she said, shocked by his sudden appearance. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to have lunch, and this was the only free seat." he replied coolly. Glancing round she saw that the place was half empty. And Lucius would never come to a muggle place to eat. At least not on his own free will.

"Huh. What are you really doing here _Lucius_" she said his name sarcastically, raising an eyebrow when he didn't reply immediately.

"I came to apologise for what happened at the party and after the party. Trust me when I say, I would never usually behave like that and I would gladly forget the whole, _incident_" he said, with no emotion in his voice. She had hoped for at least a tiny sliver of emotion from him, but she knew she shouldn't have expected it. What hurt was the obvious hatred he had for her. She hated him too, well, at least she thought she did, but she thought that maybe he had felt something when he kissed her.

"Well, I can assure you that I would also be perfectly happy to forget the, ahem, incident" she said, trying to sound haughty and cool.

"Good." he said as he stood up and swept out of the bar. She stared after him, confused by the feelings he had stirred within her. What was happening to her? What was he doing to her?

The bang of the door as he left shocked her out of her thoughts. She leapt to her feet and ran after him, not knowing what she was going to say if she did catch him, but just knowing that she didn't want him to leave. She pushed past the people who were standing in front of the door, muttering indistinct apologies as she went. She got through the door and out into the cold street and saw him a few meters away.

Their eyes met for a fraction of a second and then he apparated away. She was left swaying, the feeling that had shot through her body when their eyes met finally coming to rest in her core. She felt like she was burning. Just a look from him had reduced her to a complete mess. Unbidden her mind wandered to the memory of the kiss, the way they had fit together, the way it had felt so right. What would have happened if she hadn't pulled away?

She jerked her mind back from its wonderings, scared of where it might lead her. She shook her head and decided she wasn't hungry anymore. Pulling out her wand she apparated back to her office, trying to stop thinking about a certain tall, gorgeously handsome man.

She walked through the door to her house, throwing the keys onto the coffee table and dumped her coat and bag in the kitchen. Then she got out a tin of soup and heated it with magic before pouring it into a mug and slumping in front of the telly, staring at the screen blankly, not really seeing what was going on.

It was dark outside and she could hear the wind howling round the house. Then rain began to patter gently against the window pane and within a few minutes it was pouring down, the noise so loud that she could barely hear anything. She thought about the poor people that had somewhere undoubtedly got stuck out in this downpour and shivered. She bent over and twisted the knob to turn the central heating up.

She could have had her house magically made to be the perfect temperature, but she preferred doing it the muggle way. She found that her upbringing as a muggle had instilled within her the comfort that she got from doing things by hand instead of using magic. Of course she still used magic, and used it quite a lot, but not for everything. That was one thing that had bothered her about Ron, his insistence of doing everything by magic. Lazy bugger, she thought.

She was still cold, so she headed upstairs to fetch a blanket, and was soon curled up back on the sofa. Physically she felt lovely and warm, but emotionally she knew that she needed something. Even if it was just someone to curl up against on the sofa, she thought it would make a difference. She began to sob quietly, tears streaming down her face. She hated herself, despised herself, for finally admitting who exactly she wanted to be curled up on the sofa with. She couldn't lie to herself anymore, she wanted Lucius.

She fell asleep on the sofa, tear tracks barely drying on her face and her eyes swollen and red. The thought running through her mind when she finally did fall asleep was what would people think if they knew how she felt?

She got up and got dressed ready for work like a zombie the next morning, moving round the house as if she were in a dream. If there had been anyone there she wouldn't have noticed. She refused to think about what she had been thinking about last night, refused to let those hateful thoughts rise up. She just got on with what she had to do.

She walked to work, not able to concentrate enough to apparate and she enjoyed the fresh air. She walked into her office, not hearing or replying to the good morning calls from her co-workers, instead just walking into her office and shutting the door quietly behind her. She sat at her desk and picked up the first sheet of paper from the ever present pile and stared down at it. It was a good ten minutes before she realised she hadn't read a word, and she began to try and get some work done.

By mid-morning she was still on the same sheet of paper. She had read and re-read it so many times that she could probably have recited it by heart if she had actually paid attention to what she had read.

She stood up, placed the piece of paper back on the pile and walked out. She couldn't work, not today. She had to find Lucius, she had to tell him how she felt. She strode out, focused now that she had a purpose, telling her secretary that she would be back in ten minutes as she strode past.

Lucius worked in the ministry, she knew that. She just didn't know what department or where his office was. Maybe she wouldn't be back in ten minutes. Glancing at the main entrance as she passed, she saw the familiar blonde hair and tall physique leaving the building, she picked up her pace almost running, trying to catch up with him. She got lots of curious and annoyed glares from the witches and wizards around her, but she really didn't care.

She burst out into the street and, not realising he had stopped, bowled straight into him.

"Oh!" she gasped "Sorry!"

"Miss Granger" he sneered with obvious disdain, glaring down at her coolly. "If you would be so kind as to remove yourself from me, then we may be able to greet each other in the ordinary fashion."

She felt a bright blush flooding her face as she stepped quickly away from him, unable to form a coherent sentence and so wisely decided to remain silent. Taking a deep breath she looked up into his eyes, and immediately realised her mistake. She felt lost and absorbed in the seemingly bottomless grey orbs, and found herself once again beginning to cry. Honestly, she thought she would have run out of tears by now.

"Miss Granger, allow me to escort you back to your office, I think you need to sit down." he said, and she was too upset and bewildered to notice the gentle concern in his voice. He reached out a hand to take her arm and lead her, but the moment his hand touched hers she felt the electric shock again, followed quickly by blackness as she fainted.

"Hermione?" she heard a beautiful, deep voice saying her name, making it sound like music. She slowly blinked her eyes open, and let out a small gasp when she saw how close Lucius' face was to hers. She mentally scolded herself for fainting again. Maybe it was a talent of his, making people faint.

She lifted herself up onto her elbows and looked around at where she was. They were in a room, fairly large but gloomy and empty.

"Maybe it's a talent of mine, making people faint! Or maybe it's just you" he said with a smile. She had to double check. Yes, it was definitely a smile. Lucius Malfoy was smiling at her, at Hermione Granger! Tentatively she smiled back and this was all he needed to bend down and softly press his lips to hers. That electric feeling shot through her again and she whimpered when he moved away.

He chuckled at the sound and bent down to kiss her again, this time moving his lips gently against hers. When she felt his tongue on her bottom lip she hesitated before slowly opening her lips and allowing him to explore her mouth. The feeling inside her began to build, she felt like she was going to explode as the kisses became rougher. He broke away from her lips and began to kiss a trail down her neck. She tilted her head back to allow him better access, gasping when he hit a sensitive spot just below her ear. Hearing this he began to suck and bite on that spot, eliciting moans and gasps from her.

His hands moved round her waist, stroking under her shirt in feathery circles, teasing her. She felt his mouth move to claim hers again and felt their hot breath mingling and their tongues battling.

"Father? Hermione?" she heard the shocked voice and turned to face none other than Draco Malfoy. He stood in shock and she felt a furious blush flooding her face and neck.

"Draco, leave, now." she heard Lucius' powerful voice ordering him. The father and son glared at each other until it became clear that Draco wasn't going anywhere. Hermione struggled away from Lucius and stood up shakily. She glanced down at Lucius but he didn't see her and so she strode out past Draco and back into the busy main entrance hall. She turned back, hoping to see Lucius following her, but no one came out of the room and she eventually gave up and headed back to her office, trying her best to stop the tears from flowing and only just succeeding.

She sat down in her chair and picked up the piece of paper she had been working on all morning and began to really read it. She worked hard for the next few hours, not even stopping to get something to eat. No one came into her office and all was quiet except for the rustle of papers as she went through them all.

She heard a knock on her door and mumbled "come in!" without looking up. After a few seconds of silence she glanced up and saw Draco standing in the doorway, staring at her with the same emotionless stare his father used.

"What were you doing with my father?" he asked her, moving into the room and shutting the door behind him.

"What happened there is none of your business. Now if you would please leave as I have a lot of work to get through." she replied haughtily.

"I think it is entirely my business. Does Harry know?" the look on her face confirmed that he did not. "Well, what if I were to just pop over and see him and accidentally let slip the fact that you were making out with my father," he said, a sneer evident on his face.

"You wouldn't!" she gasped glaring up at him.

"I think we both know that I would. Now, what could I ask you to do to make me keep my mouth shut?" he pondered, glancing down at her.

"I would never do anything for you Malfoy!" she said.

"Fine," was his reply and he walked out of her office, calling over his shoulder "I am just going to pop in and see a certain Mr. Potter," he grinned and slammed her door shut behind him.

Hermione stood up, unsure of what to do. She knew without a doubt that he would tell Harry, but she didn't want to have to do anything for him. After pondering for mere seconds she sprinted out of her office after him.

Harry's office was fairly close to hers, so she reached it quickly, but not quickly enough. She ran into Draco just as he was leaving his office and she burst through to find Harry glaring at her.

"Get out of my office, Miss Granger." he said, the heat of his angry gaze burning into her..

"Listen Harry, it's not true, what happened was an accident! I didn't mean for it to happen at all, really!"

"I said get out, you traitor." he said, and she felt the tears pouring out of her eyes as she turned away from him and ran out of his office. What had she done?

Hermione felt truly awful. She hated Draco for telling him, but she also hated Harry for jumping to conclusions and not even asking her about it. She felt betrayed and hurt, but she managed to stop the tears from flowing and put on a brave face. She headed for the bathrooms and with some quick wand work she looked as good as new. She hoped no one would notice how broken she was inside.

Heading back into her office her secretary reminded her that she had a meeting in a few minutes. She nodded thanks and went into her office and gathered together all the papers she would need for the meeting. She had to look her best and act her best, the meeting was with the head of finances and she was desperate to get more funding, her department really needed it.

Pasting a smile on her face she stepped out and walked down the corridors towards the meeting place, looking every inch the smart professional. She smiled at the people she knew, but didn't stop, knowing if she did that she would be late.

She reached the office and after taking a deep breath knocked on the door and entered. Inside there were a few people, all preparing for the meeting. Glancing round them all she saw Robert Kingston, the head of finances and his secretary and fellow members of the department. Continuing to sweep the room with her eyes, she saw sitting in the corner a tall, handsome, blonde haired man. What was he doing here? He wasn't a member of this department! She stared at him, frozen in shock as he slowly turned his eyes to rest upon hers.

"Ah, Miss Granger! Please have a seat! You know all of the people here, I believe. All of them members of my department except Mr Malfoy. He will be joining me in a few weeks and I invited him along today to let him see how we work. I do hope you don't mind." said Mr. Kingston, smiling at her.

"No, that is fine," she heard herself say, and was pleased that her voice didn't shake. She sat down on the seat he was pointing to and opened her file to select the sheets she wanted to show him. Without glancing at Lucius she began her presentation, trying to show how much the department needed the extra funding if they were to start expanding,

Mr Kingston listened to her intently, nodding in all the right places of her speech. She focused mainly on him, and she began to notice that he really wasn't paying that much attention, that he was just pretending to. She was annoyed that she wasn't getting her point through, and ended her speech abruptly.

"Yes, I can see why you would need the money, but I am afraid that it just isn't possible right now. You see, Mr. Potter from the aurors department came to see me just before you arrived and I feel that his department needs the money we have available to give more than yours does. We might be able to offer you the funds you need in the near future."

"But sir…" she began to plead, but he waved his hand to silence her.

"You can escort yourself out, Miss Granger." he said, in a tone that clearly pulled the conversation to a close. She glanced over at Lucius again, hoping that he might support her in some way, but he refused to look at her, so she calmly stood up and walked out of the office, defeat making her slump when she shut the door behind her.

Harry did this on purpose, she was sure. The bastard, she thought. Well, she would just have to find a way to get back at him. She walked back into the office to find the entire department waiting for the news.

"We didn't get the money. It went to the aurors instead." she sighed dejectedly and wandered into her office.

Cries of outrage sounded from the corridor outside, but right now she really didn't want to have to deal with it. For the first time since the incident with Harry, she began to think about what had happened. Why was he so angry? He knew Ginny was going out with Draco, so why was he angry that she was with Lucius? She stopped that thought right there. She wasn't with Lucius, and after he had shown no support for her in the meeting, he obviously didn't want her. But still, why was Harry so angry with her?

She pulled out a sheet of parchment and a quill and ink and began to write a letter to him.

_Harry, why are you so angry with me? You were never all that angry with Ginny about her relationship with Draco, so why are you so angry about me with Lucius? Anyway, by the way Lucius acted afterwards, I think it was a one off thing. Please explain why to me! I don't want to end our friendship._

_Hermione._

She called her owl and gave him the letter to take to Harry. She waited impatiently, but it was a whole hour before she received a reply. Sheopened the envelope with shaky fingers, and unfolded the letter slowly. In the middle of the parchment was a short note.

_I will come over to your house tonight. Harry._

That was it.

She paced back and forth in her kitchen that evening, waiting anxiously for Harry to arrive, and when the doorbell did finally ring she had the door open in mere seconds.

"Harry! Please come in. Let me explain." She said, hurrying him through, scared that he would get angry and leave. She ushered him into the sitting room and waited until he had sat down before taking her own seat.

"Listen Harry, I am so sorry. I don't know what came over me, and I don't know why I started feelin…doing that with Lucius, I mean Malfoy. I just…" Harry interrupted her stuttered attempt at an explanation.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be angry with you. I have no control over you, and if you want to be with him then that is fine with me. I'm not going to stop you." He said.

"So you were just angry because you were surprised?" Hermione asked timidly.

"Well, that and the fact that he hurt you and Ginny, two of the most important girls in my life. I know I said I was going to forgive the Malfoys, but that doesn't erase what they did. I just want you to be happy." He said, blushing slightly at the mushy stuff he was saying.

"Oh Harry, thank you! He has changed you know. I mean, I don't know him that well, but everyone says he is a much better person now than he was." She said, and then they moved onto lighter topics for a while before Harry had to leave.

"Thank you Harry. I hate having you mad at me, and I am glad that we are still friends." She said before hugging him goodbye.

"Yeah, me too. Just be careful Hermione. You mean so much to so many people." He whispered in her ear before turning away and apparating back to his home. She wandered around aimlessly for a few seconds, before sitting on the sofa. She only managed a few moments of sitting still before she jumped up, grabbed a jacket, stepped into the street and apparated.

**A/N As I said in the first A/N, I am posting this because I want to know what people of think of my writing (because it is so old, I really hope I have improved!) so I would appreciate it if you took the time to review!I know it is fairly fast paced, but I don't want it to be one of those super long fanfictions. It is basically a one-shot in two parts :) Next chapter is half written, and needs editing, but it hopefully won't be too long until I update. LaBelleAmante xx**


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